This invention relates to air induction systems and, more particularly, to an air induction system that includes a silencer to attenuate noise within the air induction system and a flexible conduit that provides a low turbulence connection within the air induction system.
Air induction systems are often used in vehicles to intake air from a surrounding environment and supply the air to a combustion engine. Typically, the air from the surrounding environment is drawn through a conduit to an air filter. The air filter filters the air before the air is supplied to the combustion engine. Some engines use a turbocharger to boost the air pressure in the conduit.
Common turbochargers utilize a rotating fan or intermeshing rotating screws to compress and blow the air. The rotation of the fan or the intermeshing screws produces pulsations of compressed air at a frequency that corresponds to the speed of rotation. The pulsations of compressed air manifest within the air induction system as noise energy. Disadvantageously, the noise energy often results in an undesirable audible sound.
The conduit between the turbocharger and the air filter commonly includes a silencer to attenuate the noise energy and reduce the audible sound. Typical silencers employ chambers that receive the noise energy and reflect the noise energy to acoustically cancel the noise energy and reduce the audible sound. Disadvantageously, these silencers attenuate a relatively small portion of the noise energy, while a remaining portion of the noise energy still results in audible sound.
The conduit between the turbocharger and the air filter also commonly includes a flexible portion that allows the compressed air to travel along a curved flow path into the air filter. Typical flexible portions often include a convoluted tube to allow the flexible portion to bend. Disadvantageously, convoluted walls of the convoluted tube interfere with the flow of air through the flexible portion and produce turbulent air flow. The turbulent air flow often results in decreased amounts of air being supplied to the combustion engine and inefficient combustion.
Accordingly, there is a need for a silencer that more effectively attenuates noise energy and a flexible conduit that reduces turbulent air flow in an air induction system.